This morning while I was listening to 93.7 The Bull on the radio, I heard Miranda Lambert’s new song, “Automatic.” In the song, Lambert mentions that contacting someone else meant writing a letter and sending it to them, then waiting three days until they receive it. That was back when our parents were kids, in the 70’s. It got me to thinking about our cell phones.

Take text messaging for example. No wait, let’s go back even further to cell phones alone. Our parents didn’t have cell phones when they were our age. If they wanted to talk to their friends, they’d use the land line (I really hope you know what that is) or they’d have to walk to their friend’s house and talk to that person face-to-face. Now, I can literally talk to my iPhone, well, Siri, and ask her to text my friend for me.

Back to text messaging. We have the ability to talk to our friends within seconds. And if a person has an iPhone, then she gets to see when the other person reads her message and is typing back. It’s just so…easy.

Our cell phones are our lives. My cellphone is the solution to my problems 98% of the time. Problem: I need to get a hold of someone. Solution: cell phone. Problem: I need to get directions to somewhere. Solution: cell phone. Problem: I need to order Jimmy Johns. Solution: cell phone. See what I’m saying? Our cell phones do everything for us. We can get Internet on our phones, we can get music on our phones and even our grades from school. Oh hey, we also have a camera in our phones too!

As most of you may know, I have a horse, and I go riding on a regular basis. Not lately because it’s so cold outside, but I ride a lot when the weather’s warmer. I love love love taking pictures of the trails and horses when I go riding. I also take a few selfies with my horse, too. And because my mom is a mom, she makes sure I have my cell on me when I ride, just in case I were to get thrown off or something. Honestly, when I think about it, there’s almost never a time when I don’t have my phone in my hand.

My mother is always complaining about how “my phone is my life.” I wish it wasn’t that way, but it’s how I grew up. I got my first flip phone when I was eleven. Since then, I’ve upgraded multiple times, and now I have an iPhone5. My phone is my life. It has my pictures, my friends and my connection to the world. But I really do like the world outside my phone.

Last year, on a weekend in September, I went camping with a couple of my older friends and our horses. I didn’t have my cell phone the entire weekend. It was the best experience ever. I enjoyed the trails in the woods and the company of my friends and our horses. I didn’t need to check any social media or text/call anyone. I was isolated from the cell phone world for two whole days, and connected with the real world.

We need more breaks from our cell phone worlds because they shouldn’t be our whole world. I am going to make the effort to detach from my phone at least once a week and experience the real world firsthand. I vow to leave my phone at home and take the dog for a walk, go for a hike in the woods, go fishing, go ride my bike… and connect with something other than my iPhone screen.